Civil rights march

About 700 people marched on Tallahassee, Florida, today, to call for further investigation of the death last year of Martin Lee Anderson, a 14-year-old black teen being held at a military-style “boot camp” for juvenile inmates.Speaking to marchers at the federal courthouse, Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida NAACP, said she had been trying for a year to interest the U.S. Department of Justice in pursuing a civil rights case over Anderson’s death, reports the News-Press.“If he did anything, he didn’t tell me,” she said of U.S. Attorney Gregory Miller of the Northern District of Florida. “He had a year.”Although a videotape shows the unresisting youth being struck by guards with their fists and knees as a nurse stood by (Anderson died the next day because he was forced to inhale ammonia, prosecutors contended), an all-white jury in Panama City acquitted seven guards and the nurse of manslaughter less than two weeks ago, as discussed … [Read more...] about Civil Rights March Over Boot Camp Death

The top four floors of a 12-story office building in Oakland, Calif., was evacuated today after a suspicious package was personally delivered to the office of civil rights attorney John Burris this morning by an unknown person. The incident is the latest in a series of disturbing developments as many members of the public apparently draw a connection between his work and an unrelated massacre of four police officers by an at-large parolee 10 days ago.Burris—who represents the family of Oscar Grant III in a high-profile wrongful death case against Bay Area Rapid Transit over the fatal shooting of Grant at a BART transit station Jan. 1 (a white on-duty police officer is charged)—wasn’t in his office as the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad ordered the evacuation, the Oakland Tribune reports. The building also houses the Oakland Tribune.Subsequent coverage reports that the package was indeed suspicious, but harmless. It contained wires and parts of a … [Read more...] about Possible Bomb Today at Law Office of Calif. Civil Rights Attorney

When Stephen Bingham and Timothy Jenkins remember traveling to Mississippi in 1964 to take part in the Freedom Summer, with the stated goal of registering African-Americans to vote, they recall being exhilarated. It was an exciting time for the civil rights movement and the two—along with thousands of other volunteers from the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Congress of Racial Equality, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the rest of the rich alphabet soup that is part of historical lore—felt energized and inspired by the hurly-burly of protests, marches, demonstrations and organized political activities that made them feel as if they were helping to bring about important social change.They also remembered being terrified.Jenkins, a student body president at Howard University who had been on the SNCC executive committee, was thankful that he arrived in Mississippi in one piece. The Pennsylvania native, who had almost grown up in the civil rights … [Read more...] about Civil rights lawyers from the 1960s have lessons for today’s social activists

Held in contempt of court and in hiding with her 4-year-old son because she doesn’t want him circumcised, a Florida mom started raising funds for her legal fees via social media last month.Now Heather Hironimus has filed a federal civil rights suit on the child’s behalf, contending that he should not be forced to undergo a procedure he does not want and that is not medically necessary, according to the Palm Beach Post and the Sun Sentinel.She and the boy’s father, Dennis Nebus, have never been married, but Hironimus signed a parenting agreement in 2012 that provided for the boy to be circumcised, then subsequently changed her mind. A Palm Beach County judge has enforced the order, holding her in contempt when she refused to comply. At last report, she was staying at a domestic violence shelter with her son.Filed Monday. the suit names as defendants Nebus; Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Dana Gillen; and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, apparently because the … [Read more...] about Mom files federal civil rights suit in parental fight over circumcision of boy, 4

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia on Wednesday questioned Jeff Sessions’ commitment to civil rights in testimony at Sessions’ confirmation hearing to become attorney general.Both lawmakers are Democrats, but their testimony is not part of a coordinated Democratic attack on Sessions’ record on race and voting rights, the New York Times reports.Their statements are in contrast to testimony by two black men who formerly worked with Sessions and supported his nomination, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Also testifying in support of Sessions was former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson, who is also black, according to blog coverage by AL.com.Testifying on Tuesday, Sessions denied “false charges” that he had a poor record on civil rights. “I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our … [Read more...] about Two Democratic lawmakers testify against Sessions, question civil-rights commitment

Podcast transcript: This ABA Journal podcast is brought to you by WestlawNext, the legal research platform chosen by over 40,000 legal organizations for their tradition of editorial excellence combined with the most advanced technology. Learn more at WestlawNext.com.Stephanie Francis Ward: This August will mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights March on Washington. Much has changed since then, but many say more needs to be done. I’m Stephanie Francis Ward and that’s what we’re discussing today on the ABA journal podcast.Joining me are David Coar, a recently retired Northern District of Illinois judge and an Alabama native who in 1970 began his legal career with the NAACP legal defense and education fund; Julius Chambers, a North Carolina lawyer who over the years has argued and won numerous landmark Civil Rights cases; and Eleanor Holmes Norton, a lawyer and a Washington, D.C., congresswoman who was the first woman to head the Equal Employment Opportunity … [Read more...] about Why Leading Civil Rights Lawyer Advised Susan Rice Against Law School (Podcast with Transcript)

Benjamin Hooks, a minister, a lawyer and renowned civil rights leader who revitalized the NAACP while serving as its executive director from 1977 to 1992, died today at his home in Memphis, Tenn., after a long illness. He was 85 years old.A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he went to law school at DePaul University in Chicago on the G.I. Bill at a time when no law school in the South would admit him, and he returned to his hometown of Memphis to practice after he graduated in 1948. A series of achievements followed, culminating with his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, recounts the Associated Press.Along the way he became the first black state-court trial judge since Reconstruction in any southern state, with his appointment to a seat on the Tennessee Criminal Court in 1965, and the first black member of the Federal Communications Commission, in 1972. From there he went on to the NAACP, where he oversaw dramatic increases both in the civil rights’ … [Read more...] about Benjamin Hooks, Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 85

As a trusted ally of the civil rights movement, freelance Memphis, Tenn., photographer Ernest Withers marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and sat in on some sensitive strategy meetings.Immediately after King was assassinated in 1968, Withers took historic photos of his dispirited aides. He had photographed King himself the day before. But unbeknownst to his civil rights circle, Withers was also an informant for the FBI for at least a couple of years around this time, reports the Memphis Commercial Appeal in a lengthy article based in part on documents obtained from the government.“It’s something you would expect in the most ruthless, totalitarian regimes,” D’Army Bailey tells the newspaper. A retired Memphis judge and former activist, he himself was scrutinized by the FBI in the 1960s. “Once that trust is shattered, that doesn’t go away,” he says of citzens’ relationship with their government.Withers died in 2007 at age 85 and … [Read more...] about Report: Famed Civil Rights Photographer Was Also an FBI Informant

Last week, a federal court in New York permitted a lawsuit to proceed alleging that a United States Attorney and other government officials violated the civil rights of a former hedge fund operator. In addition, both ICE Futures U.S. and CME Group settled a number of disciplinary actions alleging possible spoofing and market disruption; liquidating positions in a disorderly fashion; and trading based on non-public customer information. Finally, IFUS proposed amending one of its rules to permit the possible disaggregation of certain positions among affiliated persons for position limits calculation purposes to parallel a rule proposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that has not yet been adopted. As a result, the following matters are covered in this week’s edition of Bridging the Week:Federal Court Allows Former Hedge Fund Operator’s Lawsuit Alleging Civil Rights Violations to Proceed Against US Attorney and Other Government Officials … [Read more...] about Bridging the Week: March 7 – 11, and 14, 2016 (Civil Rights Violation; Spoofing; Disorderly Liquidation; Risk Management; Disaggregation)

In a novel approach, environmental and community health groups in North Carolina recently filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claiming that a general permit issued by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for thousands of hog farms in the state violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The petition challenges DENR’s issuance of a general permit covering more than 2,000 hog facilities in March of 2014. The groups claim the general permit contains inadequate standards for manure management and but for the race and national origin of the persons who are impacted by the decision, the DENR would have required more stringent environmental requirements. Because the DENR receives federal funding, the groups have challenged the state agency pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which requires that no project receiving federal funding discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.Environmental and … [Read more...] about Environmental Groups Use Civil Rights Act to Challenge Hog Farm Permits